Pack for specific days

Travel light by being sure to use what you bring

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to pack for specific days. You can pack
lighter and more efficiently by identifying when you will wear

(00:27):
whatever goes in your suitcase. So I am always fascinated
by the psychology of packing. At home, people will wear
the same things over and over again. Then on the
road they pack multiple bags or check giant suitcases full
of things because maybe, just maybe they might want them.

(00:50):
On some level, I get it. Travel can be anxiety producing.
Sometimes people want all their creature comforts with them, or
they think they'll want lots of options, or that things
will come up that they haven't expected. It's good to
be prepared, but then you are stuck dealing with your

(01:11):
giant bags. If a flight is canceled or delayed, you
can't go get on another one easily if you have
to track down your bags first. Hauling a giant bag
up four flights in a tiny European hotel is just misery.
Giant bags don't really fit on bullet trains in Japan,

(01:32):
And the truth is, if truly novel opportunities come up,
most places have stores, It is almost always better to
pack light. One of the best ways to do that
is to actually plan ahead of time what you will wear,
as in, go through your trip day by day and

(01:52):
plan out your outfits. What will you wear on the
plane probably the heaviest stuff. What will you wear the
next day and the day after that. If you've got
a special event, you can plan that into the mix,
or if you'll be swimming or doing something active. And
if you don't know what you'll be doing exactly, that's fine,
but I'm guessing you know roughly if you plan to

(02:13):
be in a city or a jungle or a beach,
so you can plan an outfit for each day accordingly.
Then if you are thinking of throwing a shirt or
another pair of pants in or another dress into the mix,
and you don't have an identified time to wear it,
you can just take it out now. Okay, maybe you
could do one extra shirt just in case, and I

(02:35):
will allow for extra underwear case your flight home is
canceled and you're stuck an extra day. But there is
no prize for coming home with a lot of clothes
you never wore. Indeed, you lose in a way because
you are hauling around stuff that you didn't need now.
To plan outfits, it helps to know the weather, but

(02:57):
that is easy enough to find. Layers are good for
places where the weather will be variable. You probably also
want to limit the number of shoes you take, because
they tend to be bulky. I spend time before every
trip thinking through what I will need and what kind
of shoes can do the most work. I plan my
outfits with those shoes in mind. But when I'm headed

(03:19):
to the airport, I want to know that what I'll
be wearing is what I am wearing every day of
the trip, and as a result, I can go carry
on only. It's worked for trips of ten days or
more in multiple climates. If you go longer than that,
well maybe you can find a place to do laundry.
When you pack for specific days, you are more likely
to think through your trip and think rationally about what

(03:42):
should bring with you. It's a different philosophy than just
throwing in whatever you think you might want, but it
tends to result in bringing fewer things you don't need,
and the more you can travel light, the easier it
is to move through the world. In the meantime. This

(04:03):
is Laura Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

(04:33):
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
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